Your Privacy

We collect personal information from patients so that we can provide appropriate treatment and care, and for administrative purposes.

This may include: name, date of birth, next of kin, address, telephone number(s), occupation, religion, health information, treating specialists and general doctor/practitioner/referring doctor.

We hold transaction details associated with services we have provided and other information provided to us including information obtained through patient surveys.

Personal information is used or disclosed by Burnside Hospital to enable us to:

• Provide optimal medical treatment and care in conjunction with the patient’s health care team.
• Help individuals with their enquiries and administer the services we provide.
• Deal with private health funds/insurers concerning the treatment of patients.
• Share information with Medical Practitioners, Registered Nurses / Midwives service providers such as pathologists and radiographers, and allied health professionals who provide necessary follow-up treatment and ongoing care.
• Participate in quality assurance, accreditation and audit programs.
• Benchmark and report patient care data to hospital committees.
• Meet Statutory/State Government reporting requirements.
• Render accounts and collect payment from patients and service providers.
• Notify relevant Disease Registers.
• Advise Debt recovery agencies.
• Inform future health care providers.

We will not disclose personal information about patients to any person except on a confidential basis to agents used in the ordinary operation of our business, such as for data processing, printing or mailing.

We aim to ensure that the personal information we hold is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

Burnside Hospital stores, uses and, where necessary, transfers personal health information contained in hard-copy, paper-based and electronic records in a secure manner.

We will retain information after a patient's last contact with us for as long as is legally required or to reasonably meet our administrative needs.

Individuals may request access to personal information held by Burnside Hospital, and ask us to supplement or correct information they believe is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate.

These requests must be made in writing. We may charge a fee to cover the cost of searching for and providing access to information we hold. In circumstances in which access is restricted, the reasons for denying access will be explained.

Individuals can request that their health information held by us, be made available to another health service provider.

More detailed information about accessing and amending personal information is outlined in our Privacy Policy.

We will seek a patient’s prior written consent to use their personal information to send information about the hospital’s services and facilities or its fundraising activities. Permission to use personal information for these purposes may be withdrawn at any time.

Individuals may ‘opt out’ of receiving any communications from us (other than as required for the operation of our business, eg. account payment), by advising us in writing, by telephone or email.

Individuals can be dealt with anonymously, provided this is lawful and practical. However, this is not practical or possible for Medicare or insurance rebate purposes and, most importantly, could compromise our ability to provide optimal health care.

If you believe that Burnside Hospital has breached your privacy rights in any way or you wish to discuss any issues about the hospital’s Privacy Policy, you can contact the Privacy Officer of the hospital who will try and satisfy any questions and correct any errors on Burnside Hospital’s part.

If the Privacy Officer is not able to satisfactorily answer an individual’s concerns, an individual has the right to make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner by telephone 1300 363 992 or in writing to:

Office of the Privacy Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001

If you have any questions about our privacy and information management practices, or any complaint regarding the treatment of your privacy by Burnside War Memorial Hospital, please email us here.

If you would like a copy of the hospital’s Privacy Policy, please contact our Privacy Officer on (08) 8202 7222.